Time, Music...And Love

If you were to ask how to make a relationship between two people work, there’s guaranteed to be many different answers to that age-old question. Relationships are one of the trickiest aspects of human life. Sure, things can be great, but they can also head south in less than ideal ways.

The Chattanooga Theatre Centre is taking time to explore one momentous relationship in their production of “The Last Five Years,” opening tomorrow night in the Circle Theatre.

“The Last Five Years,” written by Jason Robert Brown, is a musical about the five-year relationship between Jamie, an author, and Cathy, an actress. The show tells the story of their relationship, but it’s told in two different time frames.

Cathy’s retelling of their relationship begins at the end and works its way backward, while Jamie starts his story of the relationship at their first meeting. Their stories only intersect at one pivotal moment.

The Chattanooga Theatre Centre’s production of “The Last Five Years” is directed by Garry Lee Posey, who is also the executive director of the Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga. He explained that the production normally only has a cast of two, the actor and actress who portray Jamie and Cathy.

However, in order to make the show a bit more engaging for the audience, Posey said they’ve added two unique elements to the show, which may also be a first for the production.

“We’ve put the musicians on stage in part of the action, and we also added movement with dancers. Normally, you just see the two singers, and they alternate songs because it’s solo after solo, and the band is hidden in the back somewhere,” Posey explained.

“And one of the things Todd [Olson] wanted to think about was making the band sort of central. It’s interesting, as a concept, to do that; you know, making the band more apparent in shows these days. But it has to be a small cast, because if it’s a big musical, it would never work.”

The goal with adding dancing counterparts to the lead actor and actress, and keeping the six musicians on stage in order to see and hear the music, is for the show itself to be less static, which is something that can happen with a show that has such a small cast.

The show’s dancing numbers are choreographed by the Pop-up Project, making them more modern and metaphoric in order to tell the unsaid parts of the story. Posey explained he’d actually been approached to direct the show two or three times, but he would normally shy away because of the issue of having such a small cast.

“When Todd suggested having the musicians on stage, I thought, ‘Oh, that’s a good idea.’ It changed it up. It made it a little different, and I can really use the musicians as part of telling the story, the same way each of the characters has an arc from beginning to end or end to beginning, depending on which way it is,” Posey said.

The lead roles of Cathy and Jamie in the CTC’s production are played by Jordan Otis, who starred as Belle in “Beauty and the Beast” last season, and John Thomas Cecil, who is making his Theatre Centre debut as Jamie. The cast started rehearsals at the end of August, and Posey said they’ve had a really productive five-week rehearsal schedule. However, Posey said he sort of surprised the cast members at first when he announced they would be adding a couple of new elements to the show.

“There were some concerns from the beginning, and I think those were valid concerns, but all I can say is that now we know what the concerns are, we can work to minimize those. But we won’t know until we try it. And I think that, with great risk comes great reward, like this,” explained Posey.

“So being able to work with Tim, the music director, to achieve elements within the music that are more character and plot-driven and contribute to the story more than just being orchestrations [has been great]. That, and the choreographers, and getting their input, and the actors; the collaboration has really been nice.”

In addition, the show’s set is also very interesting. Because the show focuses on the passage of time between two people, Posey explained they’ve added a time theme throughout the show, with clocks and other elements of time. There’s also a circular podium with spiral steps around it to represent the circle of life and how, although you may fall, it’s important to always get back up.

The CTC’s production of “The Last Five Years” opens Friday night at 8 p.m. and will be performed through Oct. 28, with Thursday-Saturday evening shows and Sunday matinee shows. The production is rated R for adult situations.

If you’ve ever wanted a chance to experience the emotion of a relationship on stage, with all its good and bad parts, then you definitely don’t want to miss “The Last Five Years” at the Theatre Centre.